Tiara Boobowski

Real-world designer(s)

Creator (real-world)

Artist

Biographical overview

Relative(s)

Species

Physical description

Gender

Female

Tiara Boobowski is a character created for the cancelled video games Sonic X-treme and Sonic Mars. One of the four characters originally intended to be playable, Tiara was dropped when development difficulties forced the team to focus solely on Sonic the Hedgehog.[2] Later, she was worked into three of the game's potential story lines.[3][4][5]

Christian Senn, her creator, intended for her to be a love interest for Sonic, adding romantic tension to the story.[6] He had hoped that the story would show Sonic meeting his "match" in Tiara, but the stories the team developed had to focus on bringing together the levels and supporting a basic premise of good against evil. He feels that they still could have focused on the interactions and relationships between characters more than they did, and if they had the game would have been more rewarding and deeper.[7]

Contents

Concept and creation

Chris Senn's second to last design for Tiara.

Tiara was developed to be a spunky female protagonist who could match Sonic the Hedgehog in attitude. Christian Senn later admitted that, should she have ever materialized completely, she would be a "girl power" character. She varied from the typical "damsel in distress" seen in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series.[1]

Senn's first sketches were stick figures.[8] From there, he created an initial design that deviated from a real Manx in the same way that Sonic deviated from a real hedgehog. He states that the similarities (both in appearance and personality) between Tiara and Princess Sally Acorn were unintentional.[1]

A series of four color designs were created for discussion purposes in 1995. Each retained the same basic facial and hair designs, but varied in terms of clothing. Proposed designs included a form-fitting red dress, a tank top with miniskirt, and a midriff-bearing version of the former. A design featuring no clothing changed her fur pattern.[9]

For the second to last design, Senn used the midriff-bearing design using a red and yellow color scheme.[1] However, Michael Kosaka envisioned the character as having more attitude, so Senn changed her accordingly. Along with her stance and visual demeanor, her clothing style changed dramatically. She was given tight pants, a bikini top, and tennis shoes. Additionally, her hair was shortened.[1] Chris Senn felt this design conveyed her attitude, but after the game was cancelled he admitted that her original, cuter design was his favorite.[10]

Appearance

Tiara is an anthropomorphic manx with brown fur, cream skin, and female features. Her attire includes large sneakers, a tight tube top and tight jeans. This leaves her belly bare, revealing a small belly button. She wears her brown hair in a large ponytail.

Potential Roles in Sonic X-treme

Playable Character

An example of Tiara's game mode.

Originally, Tiara was created as one of four playable characters. Each character would have their own type of game mode, each with a different perspective.[2] Tiara's mode featured two-dimensional gameplay with the additional ability to travel forward and backward to other 2D planes. However, when Clockwork Knight 2 was released, the team realized, in Christian Senn's words, that Tiara's gameplay was "exactly what the entire game [Clockwork Knight 2] did!"[1] Tiara would be able to perform classic Sonic series moves such as the Spin Dash,[11] in addition to new "power moves" performed with a scepter.[12]

"Sonic Twist"

In the "Sonic Twist" storyline by Christian Senn, Sonic the Hedgehog must travel to a romantic location in Tiara's kingdom for a date with her. However, to reach the location, Sonic must journey through many obstacles and enemies. The longer it takes Sonic, the angrier Tiara will be when he finally reaches her, as revealed to the player through cameo footage of her throughout the game. Sonic, realizing that Tiara will be angry with him, decides to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds along the way and make them into a necklace for her. Sonic's troubles begin when Dr. Robotnik decides to destroy the landscapes in his path in an attempt to stop Sonic from taking the Emeralds and to trap him forever.[3]

This storyline featured Tiara as a princess, something that changed when later stories required a professor character. Tiara's father was changed from "King Cyberooski" to "Professor Gazebo Boobowski," and thus her role changed as well.[13]

"SonicBOOM"

In the "SonicBOOM" storyline by Christian Senn, Dr. Robotnik has been infected by the deadly Doom Virus. In order to obtain the ingredients needed for the cure, he decided to infect Sonic with the virus and let him obtain the cure for him. As bait, Robotnik kidnapped Tiara, chaining her to a wooden platform hung over a bed of spikes. Sonic found her in time and immediately saved her. However, Tiara then revealed that the chains had been laced with the Doom Virus. Sonic's only hope was to see Tiara's father, the professor who lived in a castle on Misty Peak. Upon hearing of his daughter's rescue, Professor Gazebo Boobowski was glad to help Sonic on his adventure.[4]

"Sonic DOOM"

In the "Sonic DOOM" storyline by Christian Senn and Richard Wheeler, Robotnik has cracked the Master Chaos Emerald in an attempt to tap its power. As a result, the Doom Virus was released into the air. After failing to extract a cure from Proffessor Gazebo Boobowski, Robotnik kidnapped the professor's daughter, Tiara. Knowing that Sonic cannot resist rescuing a creature in danger, Robotnik used her as bait, setting the Master Emerald above a bound Tiara. Sonic spun around her like a whirlwind, freeing her. Tiara informed the hedgehog that he had contracted the virus. Sonic's only hope is to see her father, Gazebo, the professor in the castle.[5]